- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit aired two different endings for season 27, episode 2.
- On NBC, the episode ended with Terry Bruno telling Olivia Benson that Elliot Stabler is in the hospital.
- On Peacock, the episode ended with Jake Griffin going to meet with Chief Kathryn Tynan.
If you tuned into Law & Order: Special Victims Unit on Thursday, you missed something — unless you watched it on two different platforms.
Season 27, episode 2 of the crime procedural featured distinct endings on NBC and on Peacock, and neither platform featured the footage that was broadcast on the other in the show’s closing moments.
Both endings see Detective Jake Griffin (Corey Cott) talking with Captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) in her office, where he vows, “I would never go behind your back.”
The endings then diverge, as the Peacock version of the episode shows Griffin knocking on the window of a black SUV.
“Hey, John,” he tells the driver.
“Hey, kid,” the driver responds.
“It’s good to see you,” Griffin shoots back.
“Chief Tynan’s inside waiting for you,” John tells him.
NBC
Griffin thanks the driver, then heads up the stairs to meet with Chief Kathryn Tynan (Noma Dumezweni), who we don’t actually see in the scene. But the important takeaway is that Griffin is going behind Benson’s back immediately after saying that he wouldn’t.
NBC’s version of the ending sees Detective Terry Bruno (Kevin Kane) enter the office and declare “Captain, I just got an urgent message from Sgt. Bell: Detective Stabler’s in the hospital.”
NBC’s ending doesn’t feature that last scene with Griffin going behind Benson’s back, and Peacock’s ending doesn’t include Bruno at all.
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Why the discrepancy?
Entertainment Weekly has reached out to representatives for NBC for clarification.
TVLine previously reported that NBC aired its Stabler-forward ending to directly connect the episode to season 5, episode 2 of Law & Order: Organized Crime, which aired in the time slot immediately after SVU. (Organized Crime‘s fifth season was originally released on Peacock this past spring, but the episodes are re-airing on NBC this fall).
Virginia Sherwood/PEACOCK via Getty
Hargitay guest starred on season 5, episode 2 of Organized Crime, where Benson visited Elliot Stabler (Christopher Meloni) in the hospital.
So NBC viewers who watched both SVU and Organized Crime on Thursday witnessed Benson learn that Stabler was hospitalized at the end of one show, then check in with him at the beginning of the next show.
NBC’s ending neatly slots SVU into the Organized Crime timeline, suggesting that SVU season 27 takes place concurrently with Organized Crime season 5, despite the fact that L&O fans have already seen the conclusion of OC season 5 on Peacock.
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit airs new episodes on Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
